General information

Who can apply?

The Fellowships are available for PhD holders from all over the world.

What is the duration?

Fellowships are of a 12 months duration, spent in one of the ERCIM institutes.

How to apply?

Only online applications are accepted.
Next deadline for application: 30 Apr 2024

Which topics/disciplines?

The topics focus on the ERCIM institutes' scientific fields of competence.
See http://fellowship.ercim.eu/topics

Where are the fellows hosted?

Only ERCIM members can host fellows. For information about the possible hosting institutes, see "participating ERCIM members". For more details, see the homepages of the individual members, or contact the ERCIM Fellowship Programme national contact for a specific institute.

When an ERCIM member is a consortium the hosting institute might be any of the consortium's members.

When an ERCIM Member is a funding organisation, the hosting institute might be any of their affiliates.
Fellowships are proposed according to the needs of the member institutes and the available funding.

See also the list of current and former fellows.

What are the conditions to apply?

Before applying, please read carefully the "Application guide".

  • have obtained a PhD degree during the last 8 years (prior to the application year deadline) or be in the last year of the thesis work with an outstanding academic record. Nevertheless, before starting the grant, a proof of the PhD degree will be requested.
  • complete, submit the application form and send via the online system:
    • a detailed curriculum vitae without any sensitive data (such as information that reveals the alleged racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs...). More details in the Application guide,
    • a list of publications,
    • two scientific papers in English,
    • contact details of two referees.

Please note that the fellowship is restricted to two terms (one reselection possible).

We encourage not only researchers from academic institutions to apply, but also scientists working in industry.

In order to encourage mobility:

  • a member institute will not be eligible to host a candidate of the same nationality.
  • a candidate cannot be hosted by a member institute, if by the application deadline of the call, he or she has already been working for this institute (including phd or postdoc studies) for a total of 6 months or more, during the last 3 years.

Two types of contracts
The fellows are appointed for 12 months either by a stipend (an agreement for a research training programme) or a working contract. The type of contract and the monthly allowance (for stipends) or salary (for working contracts) depend on the hosting institute (see table above).

It should be noted that the stipend (Fellowship Agreement) does not constitute a contract of employment. As such, no contributions are made, on behalf of the fellow, in respect of unemployment insurance or either state or private retirement schemes. The fellow will not, therefore, be entitled to any unemployment or retirement benefits under the Fellowship Agreement.

For the entire period of 12 months, the fellow will receive a monthly allowance or salary (depending on the type of contract) which may vary depending on the country. Costs for travelling to and from the institutes will be paid under conditions determined by the contract.

This allowance/salary will be transferred to the fellow's personal bank account.

Allowances for the round 2024(1):

Country Consortium Monthly allowance (net) in euro (approximatively) Contract type
Italy CNR 2070 € Stipend Contract
Netherlands CWI 2500 € Stipend Contract
Germany Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft 3000 € Stipend Contract
Portugal INESC 1686 € Stipend Contract
Norway NTNU 4260 € Stipend Contract
Sweden RISE 2925 € Stipend Contract
Spain UMA 2100 € at minimum Working Contract
Poland University of Warsaw 1500 € Stipend Contract

Depending on the hosting country and the type of contract the net allowance might not take into account deductions such as income tax. We strongly recommend to the fellows to consult the host organisation for these details before signing the contract.

 

Insurance
For working contracts, the fellow is covered by social insurance according to the national regulation of the hosting country.
For stipends the fellow is covered by personal health insurance provided by insurers selected by Campus France, the cost of which is paid by ERCIM-EEIG. The insurance also covers medical repatriation, the payment of a capital in the event of disability or death and a personal civil liability outside the country of origin.
The insurance does not extend to the fellow's family.
The duration of the insurance is strictly limited to the duration of the fellowship.
The fellow will have to conform strictly to the modalities required by Campus France to obtain benefit of this insurance.
Details information on the Campus France insurance available on demand by email.

Costs for travelling to and from the institutes
Costs for travelling to and from the host institutions will be reimbursed on the basis of an economic class airplane ticket or first class train ticket. No moving expenses are allocated. The limit is 500 euros per trip (2 trips can be planned).

Research Exchange Programme
Fellows have to spend at least a one-week visit to another ERCIM member institute. ERCIM-EEIG will cover reasonable expenses (including but not limited: travel, accomodation, meal) up to a maximum amount calculated on the basis of 100 euros per month over the fellowship period.

Participation in scientific conferences
Fellows are encouraged to attend and to submit papers to scientific conferences during his or her fellowship. ERCIM-EEIG will cover registration costs and travelling expenses up to a maximum sum calculated at a rate of 100 euros per month under the condition that the fellow has an accepted paper at the conference. This additional allowance can also be used for covering processing fees for Open Access journals.

Why to apply for an ERCIM Fellowship?

The Fellowship Programme enables bright young scientists from all over the world to work on a challenging problem as fellows of leading European research centers. In addition, an ERCIM fellowship helps widen and intensify the network of personal relations and understanding among scientists. The programme offers the opportunity to ERCIM fellows:

  • to work with internationally recognized experts,
  • to improve their knowledge about European research structures and networks,
  • to become familiarized with working conditions in leading European research centres,
  • to promote cross-fertilization and cooperation, through the fellowships, between research groups working in similar areas in different laboratories.

How are the fellows selected?

Each application is reviewed by one or more senior scientists in each participating ERCIM institute. ERCIM representatives decide on the candidates to whom Fellowships are offered, taking into account the following criteria:

  • scientific expertise of the applicant,
  • quality of scientific publications,
  • relevance of the fellowship research agenda,
  • interest/ added-value for the consortium,
  • previous mobility / professional experiences.

The number of available positions varies from call to call and depends mainly from the needs of the member institutes and their available funding.

Equal Opportunities
ERCIM is committed to ensuring equal opportunities and promoting diversity. People seeking fellowship within the ERCIM consortium are not discriminated against because race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, marital status or disability.

Further information

For general questions about the Fellowship Programme, please contact fp-info@ercim.eu

Contacts for questions about a particular hosting institute:

Consortiums National contact Tel Email
CNR Raffaella Casarosa +39 050 315 2647 raffaella.casarosa@iit.cnr.it
CWI Dick Broekhuis + 31 20 592 4188 Dick.Broekhuis@cwi.nl
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Bettina Touré +49-2241-14-1471 bettina.toure@zv.fraunhofer.de
INESC Gabriel David +351222094040 gabriel.david@inesctec.pt
NTNU Lena Haugen +47 73593418 lena.haugen@ntnu.no
RISE Björn Levin +46 (0)8 633 15 42 bjorn.levin@ri.se
UMA Javier Cámara Moreno + 951 95 34 62 jcamara@uma.es
University of Warsaw Daniel Adamiak + 48 22 55 44 297 adamiak@mimuw.edu.pl

Disclaimer: No part of this webpage can be considered legally binding.